Road to Catalina
The stories of 3 crews preparing for the biggest race of 2021.
It’s been a tough year for sports, to say the least. Lockdowns and social distancing rules ruled out any chance for team paddling to happen from last year to the beginning of 2021 in most parts of North America. With the cancellation of Molokai Hoe 2021, all eyes are now focused on the US Outrigger Championship, the Catalina Crossing.
Talis Crew sits down with members of three crews: Team Oceania, Ka Lahui Kai (KLK), and San Francisco Outrigger Canoe Club (SFOCC) to get their stories on their Road to Catalina.
We were expecting to hear stories about tough times however what we got instead were experiences on the discovery of opportunities, positive attitudes and focus.
A chance to build locally: Team Oceania
For Team Oceania, the mandate of the program is to bring together the best paddlers from all parts of the Pacific. However, since Covid, all international team members are unable to fly to Hawaii to train or race. Mario Mausio, founder of Team Oceania reflects on this time and talks about how it was actually an opportunity to find great local talent in Hilo.
Mario Mausio — Unfortunately Covid caused a lot of issues. However, at the beginning of this year, it looked like the OC6 paddling season was going to come back. Clubs were still not opened so I started to think about how to run the (Team Oceania) program. After talking to some of the local boys that raced last year, and racing one man season at Big Island, I saw that Hilo had a lot of talented paddlers. It got me thinking about how to switch the selection of international paddlers to local paddlers. The idea is to find elite level paddlers that wanted to compete as a team and extend an invitation to them. From there, it got me thinking, where else could these paddlers be, which islands? It opened my eyes that there are so many talented paddlers.
Team Oceania:
- Kapono Brown (Oʻahu)
- Max Dieckmann (California/Oʻahu)
- Mario Mausio (Coach, Fiji/Oʻahu/Hawaiʻi Island)
- Kekamahōʻolu Lee Loy (Hawaiʻi Island)
- Jose Lizardi (Hawaiʻi Island)
- Chase Vonnordheim (Hawaiʻi Island)
- Aaron Norris (Kauaʻi/Oʻahu/Hawaiʻi Island)
- Maika Scott (California)
- George Wilson (Waimānalo, Oʻahu)
- Nate Loyola (O’ahu)
We sit down with a few members of the crew to get a better look at who is Team Oceania and their preparation.
Max Dieckmann — I moved to Honolulu from California in 2014 for a work opportunity. When I moved, I didn’t know anyone on Oahu. One of my first friends invited me to check out paddling in 2015 with Waikiki Beach Boys Canoe Club. He said he thought I might enjoy the sport. Later I realized he was trying to recruit a novice B crew. Despite holding the paddle backward at the first practice, I was hooked. I grew to really enjoy and participate in the sport, the community, and the culture of outrigger canoe paddling.
A few of us from WBBCC, started paddling at Hui Nalu in 2018 and got introduced to Team Oceania. To be honest, I was a little worried when I showed up at Hui Nalu, there were a host of excellent, experienced paddlers who all seemed to have a tight bond with one another. Fortunately, everyone at the club was welcoming and willing to share their knowledge. We trained and raced hard together through the 2018 and 2019 paddling seasons. I remember sharing a lot of good laughs at Maunalua Bay those two seasons.
At its core, Team Oceania is a competitive outrigger canoe team composed of paddlers from Hawaii, Tahiti, Fiji, Australia, New Zealand, and California. It’s evident that the team members all take competitive paddling seriously and push each other to perform well in races. What I think is less obvious, is that to me, Team Oceania represents friendship. As someone who didn’t know anyone when they moved to Oahu and didn’t know outrigger paddling, I am very grateful for every opportunity to share the canoe with our teammates.
Without the structure of a club, this season has required more independent planning and training. Those of us living on Oahu have been meeting to do OC-1 workouts on Tuesdays and Thursdays after work. I have been aiming for consistent 4–5 paddling sessions a week and running/kettlebells for cross training. As a whole group, we have met up for a few local races and long OC-6 training sessions. I’ve really enjoyed the opportunity to do some long training sessions out of Hilo Bay with the Big Island guys.
For the Catalina Crossing, I have actually not participated in an outrigger race in California despite growing up there. I am looking forward to our first 9-man long distance race since Molokai Hoe 2019!
Aaron Norris — This is my first year with Team Oceania. Beyond stoked to be part of such a great team with never ending opportunity to get better and compete with the best. Team Oceania provides the opportunity to train at the top level paddlers and races on Oahu for the outer islands. It means a lot to me to be part of this team. It provides me an outlet to come to Oahu to train, learn, and race with the best in Hawai’i. Practices are great with a wide variation. We can train on Big Island and paddle in the flat with a lot of current or come to Oahu and do a downwind run with honking conditions. The team is great with setting up such practices and being able to do 20+ mile practices with an escort boat. This allows for a great workout, practice with change races, and so much more. Plus it’s always good to watch from the escort boat and learn what needs to be done so you can apply to yourself.
Personally for training if I’m off work, I do 24 hour shifts as a firefighter, I’m at least gonna do a paddling workout once in the day. I’ll mix the paddling up with running, cycling, gym workouts, and swimming laps. If I’m not training or working out then I’m resting or prepping for the next workout.
The problem is that racing has been slim this year. A lot of races have been canceled due to covid so I’m stoked the Catalina race held strong and is still gonna happen, I am ready. I have not competed in the Catalina race before. I’ve been meaning to for years so definitely excited for this one. I expect to have some great competition and battles out on the ocean. Can’t wait!
Kekamaho’olu Lee Loy — I’m fairly new to the Team Oceania Ohana, only having paddled with the team since May of 2021. Paddling has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, and I have been competitively paddling since around the age of 8. Being a part of Team Oceania has allowed me to gain really great insight and different perspectives on the sport and how to better my personal performance in the canoe. I really value the experience that our coach, Mario, and my teammates bring to the table every time we train together. Everyone comes from different waters, oceans, and seas, so I think combining what we’ve all learned along our individual journeys is what really makes this team special.
Practices are interesting. It takes a lot of coordination to get a canoe, escort boat, and paddlers in place (especially when we are on different islands). So practices really start with coordination and I make sure to thank Mario and our steersman George (as well as Waimanalo Canoe Club) for handling the logistics of making our practices happen. Once we agree on a date and everyone is on the island, we launch from Kaiona, or Waimanalo beach park and head around Makapuu point towards town. The ocean out there is always changing. We’ve paddled on the same run 3 times, and every time it has been completely different. I really like paddling in different waters, stepping out of my comfort zone to train in conditions that are new to me. Learning how to adjust and adapt helps me to build the endurance and mental strength I’ll need for race day.
When possible, we try to do any six man races that we can together. We had a lot more planned, but Covid restrictions ended up with event cancellations almost completely across the board. Some of the events we’ve done are the Kohala Coastline hosted by Aloha Unlimited, the Hilo Bay Challenge hosted by Kamehameha Canoe Club and the Dave Yamagata Challenge hosted by Dave himself. I think races are good for us to do because there is no real substitute for the adrenaline-filled excitement that you feel in a race. And because of that excitement, you are more likely to push harder than you would in regular training or practice.
When we are on our separate islands we do a lot of OC1 training, running and gym time to keep our personal fitness levels up. Since Mario, Jose, Norris and I are from Hilo, we occasionally try to get a 6man practice in to help with our blending and timing. We have a solid support group at home that helps us to train and fill seats when we need it. In my opinion, both individual fitness and team blending are equally important to the success of the canoe. If you have one without the other, it will be evident in the race results. I honestly believe that you will get out what you put in.
This will be my first Catalina Crossing. I have studied the footage and asked teammates and fellow paddlers about their experiences doing this race. I expect a flat and smooth surface texture, with slow rolling bumps that we can hopefully capitalize on. Like all flat water races, I think it will be a test of strength, team blending, patience and endurance. 30 miles is long, so I think that we really need to trust each other and know that we will all be ready to perform on race day.
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Ka Lāhui Kai was founded in 2015 by Alan Pflueger. The goal of the program is to raise the level of men’s paddling in Hawaii to challenge and compete against the Tahitians, who have dominated the paddling world. Specifically, Moloka’i Hoe. To do so, the program maintains a very high level of integrity and all Ka Lāhui Kai athletes know that to be part of the program, they must commit themselves 100%. Those that make the commitment and have the drive to be the very best that they can be, are the ones that make the crews. (Excerpt from Talis Crew’s article We Paddle for Hawaii (click on link to read)
This year, KLK will be entering two crews at the Catalina Crossing. Their open men’s crew and their juniors crew. Talis Crew sits down with veteran Kala Diaz and young guns Avan Makoa Becerra and Jack Seymour to get to know their road to Catalina.
Kala Diaz — I have been paddling for Ka Lāhui Kai since the program started back in 2015. To me being part of this team means to be part of a brotherhood in which we strive to achieve the highest level of performance and training. I have never been a part of something I’m more proud of and to train and race with this team is the greatest privilege a paddler from Hawaiʻi could have.
This year has been a challenge with covid as we have been unable to train with our paddling brothers from overseas, there were restrictions on team sports, W6 races were canceled in Hawaiʻi, and the variable of catching and spreading the sickness in the team was something we all had to be wary of. However, we were able to find ways to train and recruit paddlers to create a team for this year’s Catalina race which managed to stay unaffected by covid restrictions. The chance to race is exciting and we managed to execute good training leading up to the race. This will be my 5th time doing this race (3 times before with NAC and once with Ka Lāhui Kai). I am super excited to do it with my KLK brothers, we are going to be chasing gold this year and expect some good competition from Lanakila Canoe Club and Team Oceania.
Avan Makoa Becerra — I’m a newbie to the program. I’ve been very fortunate to be a KLK member since July 2021. From my standpoint, Ka Lāhui Kai is truly an elite men’s and juniors program based out of Oahu, Hawaii. Flying over every week from the Big Island to train with them has been super fun! I always look forward to participating with the crew and feel lucky to be amongst some of the hardest working paddlers I know. I always love spending time with my teammates. Although I just started in the program, we have created strong bonds and fun everlasting memories in and outside the Wa’a. I think it’s important to have strong friendships between each other in a six man crew, and every team sport. I believe with a combination of a good training program, leadership, willingness to learn, and awesome human beings within it, you’ll get good results.
With regards to the Catalina Crossing, I’ve never raced Catalina. In fact, it’s only been very recent that I’ve branched out into these races outside of Hawaii. But I do have my paddling “bucket list” and Catalina has been on that list since I started paddling. I heard conditions are “nice and flat,” which, coming from Kona, seems to be my forte. I also heard there are a lot of sharks in the area. I’d be kinda stoked to see one up close!
Jack Seymour — I moved to Hawaii for college and came about three weeks early so that I could start training with Ka Lāhui Kai in the lead-up to this season. Unfortunately, Catalina looks like it will be the only big race that is happening this year, but I know we’re all looking forward to it. It’s been really awesome training with this group of guys, they were really inviting when I first got here and it has been a smooth transition. Training with this really driven group of young paddlers that all want to achieve big things in the sport is amazing, and I’m honored to be a part of that.
Our training is a good mix of on the water sessions and land training. On the water we tend to do several blending sessions each week, and higher intensity intervals, then we generally do a longer session on the weekends. We also have a few gym sessions per week to work on strength, those are really crucial especially in the six man as the boat’s a little heavier. The schedule can get pretty hectic at times with early mornings and several sessions per day, but everyone is in it together so I think it really builds camaraderie in the team. Seeing each other multiple times a day and grinding together builds good team spirit.
This is my first time going to Catalina, I’m really looking forward to it especially since it’s going to be the only big six man race of the year and it’s my first race with the team. Obviously we’re not expecting big surf or anything, it’s generally pretty calm there, but we’re pretty confident in our conditioning and everyone is feeling fit. Definitely look out for KLK at the front, we’ll be going for the win!
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It’s another foggy and cool morning in San Francisco and Tek and Eri will need to wake up early if they are going to squeeze in on water time before family duties kick in. This paddling couple have been great contributors to both the dragonboat and outrigger scene in San Francisco. 2021 has been tough but they have managed to race and this year the Catalina Crossing will be their biggest test.
Tek Li — Eri and I joined SFOCC in October 2018. Even though we had outrigger before, this was our first time being part of an outrigger canoe club. In September 2019, SFOCC was sending a crew to race Catalina as well. Due to our dragon boat commitment, we were not able to race Catalina that year. For us to get the chance now in 2021, we are super grateful and excited for the opportunity. We have learned a lot and trained harder than ever before. It means a lot that we can apply that growth into this race.
Practices at San Francisco are beautiful, windy, and chilly. We roll our boats on dolly about 600m to get to the beach and launch. We call this walk the warm-up and the cool-down. My favorite part of the training is the 80% power pieces because it gives me mental space to focus on blending with the crew, while also allowing me to exert high energy. I think this is super important because timing with the rest of the boat is key to having a smooth, efficient race. The training has been a lot of fun because we are all pushing each other to be better.
I have not raced Catalina Crossing before. I’m nervous about it because I’ve never done a change race before either. There are a lot of new strategies to learn and practice. I expect my crew to put in our best effort. We’ve been hammering away for the last two months as a crew, but individually we have been training together all of this year. I am hopeful that all the effort and work will culminate into a strong completion for us this year!
Talis Crew wishes all crews a safe trip and amazing race.
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Good times ahead!
